


Certain

by Joking611



Series: Cari'ssi'mi Drabbles [6]
Category: Mass Effect - All Media Types, Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Beginnings, Cari'ssi'mi, Emotions, F/F, Fictober 2019, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-20
Updated: 2019-10-20
Packaged: 2020-12-24 23:22:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,097
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21107669
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Joking611/pseuds/Joking611
Summary: Liara's first night aboard the Normandy comes at the end of tumultuous day.





	Certain

**Author's Note:**

> Fictober 2019 prompt #11 - “It's not always like this.”

Liara looked up when she heard a knock on the door to her “cabin”.

She shook her head as she tried to pull herself together, struck by the incongruousness of something so mundane as a knock on a ship so advanced. Of course, despite being an object of pride for both the Hierarchy and the Alliance, Normandy was a warship, albeit a diminutive one. Add to that, her human captain had chosen to place her in what was effectively a closet, she shouldn’t be surprised that her newly assigned space lacked amenities.

Her musings were interrupted by another knock, softer this time, as if concerned about intruding on her solitude.

She stood, and started for the hatch. Hesitation gripped her as she realized there was no need for the reflexive action. This was a storage compartment, after all. Her hatch didn’t lock from the inside.

“Come in?” She called hesitantly. She had no idea if that was a customary acknowledgement for humans. Goddess, she wasn’t even sure if a knock signified a desire for entry among the human military.

Her fears regarding propriety were put to rest when the hatch slid aside revealing Commander Shepard, but new concerns replaced them. She quickly turned aside, rubbing her face to obscure the tracks of tried tears.

“Doctor?” The commander’s tone was soft, but concerned. Liara glanced back to see the human still standing in the hatchway, apparently hesitant to enter. “Are you all right? I can come back later,” she added when Liara didn’t immediately respond.

“No. Yes. I am fine,” Liara inwardly cursed herself as she stumbled over her words. Interaction with strangers was not her strong suit, particularly one who seemed every bit the storybook hero.

A deep, shuddering, breath. “Please come in.” She gestured Shepard into her cabin while attempting to disguise a sniffle. She looked at the commander while trying to force a smile. “May I help you?”

Shepard hesitated just inside the threshold of the compartment. “Actually, I came to check on you.” She indicated the hastily prepared space. “Do you have everything you need? We weren’t really ready for civilian passengers.”

Liara followed Shepard’s gaze as she glanced first at the standard issue cot, obviously designed for planetside encampments, and then the hastily provided terminal and scientific equipment, which gave the shelves Liara had been seated in front of the slightest hint of ‘research lab’ instead of ’storage area’. The young human was chewing on her bottom lip as she looked back at Liara, seemingly concerned about the grade of accommodations.

Liara shook her head, overcome by a desire to reassure the woman even as she continued to struggle to contain her emotions. “Please do not worry, Commander. Before you rescued me, I had been living in a cave. Even one of your ’sleeper pods’ would comfortable in comparison.”

“You’re sure you don’t need anything Doctor? It’s no trouble.”

Only later would Liara discover that the other nonhumans aboard the Normandy hadn’t had their requirements seen to in _quite_ so attentive a manner.

The young archaeologist sat heavily on her cot, force of will no longer enough to sustain her.

“It has been a difficult day. Days?” She corrected. “I do not know how long I was held captive in the Prothean device.” Long enough that the Normandy’s medical practitioner had declared her dehydrated, but no so long that she’d felt the need to prescribe more than a meal and rest. “And then the battlemaster arrived. And geth!” She shot back to her feet, panicked as the day’s events intruded on her exhausted mind. “There are geth beyond the Veil! We need to inform the Council!” She looked around, panic in her eyes. “And Thessia! The navy must prepare…”

Suddenly Shepard was in front of her, arms out in what was presumably a calming motion, hands not quite touching her shoulders, expression full of concern.

Liara stepped instinctively into the human’s embrace.

Shepard tensed at the unexpected contact, then immediately relaxed. “It’s all right, Doctor. Everyone’s been told, it’s being handled. You don’t need to worry.” Strong hands worked slowly up and down her back, calming the shakes that had threatened to consume her.

How could she be so calm? The geth had forced the quarians from their homeworld! Add that to what she’d been told about Saren and her mother…

She took a step back, and Shepard’s arms made no attempt to hold her in place. That bothered her for some reason.

“Liara,” she said once she was certain her voice wouldn’t break.

“Doctor?”

“Please Commander, call me Liara.”

A polite nod. “Shepard,” the human said in return.

“I,” _‘I don’t want you to go,’_ she thought. “I am better now, thank you.”

“You’re sure?” Disbelief danced in green eyes. Liara wondered how she knew that.

“Surely there are more important things for the commander of an Alliance warship to attend to than one emotional maiden.”

“Nope. Can’t think of one,” Shepard replied with a hint of a smile.

Liara simply gaped in response.

“Doctor. Liara,” Shepard corrected. “It’s not always like this. Sometimes what’s important falls by the wayside because that’s what is demanded of us. That’s what makes the other times so important.” She locked eyes with the confused asari. “You’ve had a _really bad day_, and I want you to know that while you don’t know me, err us, very well yet, you’re not alone. You’re safe. You have friends here.”

“I do not mean to impose upon your hospitality Shepard. I know you have no reason to trust me if what you say about Benezia is true-”

“You’re told me everything that I need to know to trust you Liara,” Shepard cut her off. “But now you need to rest. Tomorrow we can talk about what comes next for you.”

“Next?” Tomorrow suddenly seemed far away.

“Sure. We have several systems to visit, but eventually we’ll make it back to the Citadel. She shrugged. “Maybe in a few weeks?” Shepard looked away. “We can drop you off there. You know, if you want.”

“In a few… weeks?”

“Well, it might be a bit more.”

“Oh.” She had no idea how to interpret the commander’s sudden change in tone.

“I should go.” Shepard turned for the hatch. “Unless you need anything?” She asked somewhat hopefully.

“Just sleep, Shepard.”

“I’ll leave you to it then.” She exited the cabin.

Liara sat on her cot, perplexed by her interaction with the puzzling human. There was only one thing of which she was certain.

She would not be disembarking at the Citadel.


End file.
